“It’s going to disappear soon, isn’t it?”

  “It is.”

  “Do you think there’s a spell to keep it forever?”

  “…No, I don’t think so.”

  “Do you think…I could make one?”

  “You know I can just make more for you, right?”

  How was she going to tell him that this was the first gift she had received from someone who wasn’t her mother?

  He must have seen the disappointment on her face, because the look he gave her next was a bit pained. “It’s okay if it doesn’t last forever. We can just make more. I can teach you the spell.”

  “Okay,” she responded hesitantly, feeling the flower start to already crumble in her fingers. The particles it shed, disintegrating into the darkness, looked like her stars. They had come back to visit her. “They’re…they’re just going home again.” The thought made her feel a bit better.

  Though he had absolutely no clue what she was talking about, Theo nodded anyway. “And they can come back anytime.”

  “You have to write it down for me.”

  “Got it.”

  Just standing there, looking at the flower continue to fall apart in her hands, Ty kept telling herself that the hope was still there—it would not disappear if the flower did. She would not go back. Forward, she had to move forward. Hope would not vanish simply because magic did.

  “Are you alright after that…that healing spell?” asked Theo quietly when the flower’s magic ran out and Ty still hadn’t moved.

  “I should be okay,” she answered honestly. More than anything, she felt dazed, like she was still stuck in her pastel dream.

  “Well…is there anywhere you need to be?”

  Was…there?

  Putting away the large tome, Theo checked his timepiece. “Do you want to come with me to supper? Selene and Darius are usually there.”

  I guess not. “Sure,” she nodded, walking alongside Theo as they exited the practice yard and stepped into the bright main Academy courtyard, which was still bathed in the warm, orange glow of spell-candles.

  Comforted by the light, she piped up a bit hesitantly as they walked, “Do you usually skip dinner?”

  He made an ambivalent noise. “Eh…usually class with Professor Moriya runs long on Tuesdays, so I skip.”

  For a brief moment, Ty wasn’t too bothered by it, but then she squinted her eyes at Theo. “How often do you skip supper?”

  Realizing she was onto him, Theo wished he had lied earlier. “Well…I…uh, often…”

  The class lead in her could not help but come out. “Let me get this straight—you’re telling me that you don’t eat supper and breakfast, don’t always have enough time in your schedule for lunch, and then go into Fieldwork early in the morning two days out of the week thinking you’ll make it through?”

  With little to defend himself with, he countered feebly, “I—I’ve been better about breakfast, okay? And it’ll be better now that classes are over.”

  Holding onto the grain of truth in his words, Ty sighed. “Do you not feel hungry?” Sure, she was also used to only eating small portions of food on some days, and not at all on others, but her body was more resilient than most commoners. After all, most Ancients were built to withstand not eating often due to cultural conservation, which left her on somewhat of a common ground between the two.

  “I do,” he answered curtly, in such a matter-of-fact way she was convinced for a moment that he was justified in not eating at all.

  “Can’t you ask one of the students to bring you food? Eat it in your room?”

  “Ah,” Theo mumbled, his tone shifting. “Sometimes Faris brings food to eat in the common room while we study.”

  Ty stopped in her tracks. “That’s why he was late for class—he was with you!”

  Theo walked a few more steps before noticing that she had stopped. With sagged shoulders and a weary look, he stopped and sighed, “Yes. Yes, he was.”

  “Faris can be very thoughtful,” smiled the tactician, recalling her principal caster fondly and resuming walking, pleased with herself for answering the unsolved mystery, albeit slightly embarrassed that she had actually voiced the thought aloud.

  Replying with another beleaguered sigh, Theo tagged along, quietly musing to himself when Ty stopped again.

  Hand in her pocket, feeling the corners of a card, she turned to the lecture hall from across the field. “Oh, I…I forgot something, I’ve got a…a delivery.”

  But supper, her mind lamented.

  With a sidelong glance, Theo regarded her apparent indecision intently. “Do you need to get it now, or after supper?”

  Ty wanted supper. She wanted to sit down at a table surrounded by noisy students, eating small bites of bread and soup, with maybe some cheese and hot coffee. Not talking at all, enjoying the moment for what it was.

  “Do you need some more time to decide?”

  Ty turned to Theo with a hopeless look on her face. “I—” she began before pausing, hearing how silly she sounded, how foolish her indecision was. They were outside of the dining hall already, for Graces’ sake. The package could wait. The world would not end if she didn’t pick up her tome today.

  “I-I’ll do it tomorrow morning,” she ended up saying, turning away and rushing through the dining hall doors before the malfunctioning moral compass within her had the chance to get another word in.

  “O-oh, okay?” puttered Theo, rushing after her as they both entered the dining hall, Ty slowing down in her resolve when she saw that the table they usually frequented on Mondays was occupied by another group of students. She turned to Theo, who was behind her, and he craned his neck to look at their table when he saw the desperation in her eyes.

  “We only have that table on Mondays, Callie arranged everything after you suggested it,” he explained, walking past her and heading to the front counters where there were drinks and attendants. “Do you not eat here during the week?”

  With absolute indifference, Ty shook her head. Every time she thought about eating with the rest of her classmates in the dining hall, uninvited, she cringed on the inside. She was convinced that she would either be denied or allowed to sit out of pure politeness. Simply not asking, not partaking in supper with the rest of her classmates when uninvited, solved all of these problems.

  “Ah.”

  Arriving at a counter in front of the dining hall, Ty tried to peek at what was behind the attendants. She was by all means not very tall at all, which made things slightly frustrating, but generally standing on the tip of her toes allowed her to see. Today was one of those busy days where not even that worked.

  “Coffee?” mumbled Theo, unaware of her antics and taking a mug from the table.

  “Mhm.”

  “I don’t know how you drink this stuff all the time,” he mused, filling up a cup with dark liquid and passing it to Ty, who took it very graciously.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “My mother only had that or tea around the house.” Cupping her steaming coffee, Ty tried to move to Theo’s other side to see if she could get a good look, but it looked a bit too crowded for her liking.

  “What are you doing?” he finally sighed, moving aside for her.

  On the tips of her toes, Ty replied absentmindedly, “I wanted to see what soup they had.”

  There—it looked a bit paler than usual, with bursts of color. Cream-colored, pasta-looking shapes floated on the top. She didn’t recognize it.

  “Yes, that and bread, right?” He started moving toward an attendant.

  That was when it finally hit her.

  She lowered herself and blinked, following Theo. “Yes. How did you know?”

  The physician shrugged. “That’s all you eat. Every week, without fail. Anyway, did you want anything else?”

  The surprise on her face fizzled immediately as she shook her head and used both her hands to hold the hot mug of coffee, planting herself in its warmth and Theo’s nonchalance.

  “Alright then, let’s see…”

  They stood quietly at the counter, watching the attendant bring them a basket of bread, some cheese, and two bowls of soup. Both students were perfectly fine with not talking, especially because the dining room was already loud with other students chatting and eating their meals.

  One particular voice, however, stood out against the rest.

  “Say, have you heard about the library—what? No, she didn’t. Really? Why don’t they—oh, I guess you’re right, they—” The voice was so loud that they couldn’t even hear the replies.

  “He’s near the back,” murmured Ty, spotting the source of the voice as well as her other students.

  Theo picked up the food, unaffected. “Selene there?”

  “Yes. Darius, too.”

  “Ah yes, the original breakfast crew,” noted Theo as he turned around. “Before you had me join,” he added a bit begrudgingly after a pause.

  Feeling strangely triumphant over a conversation that had happened ages ago, Ty cracked a tiny smile. She kept quiet, however, and followed him toward their verbose classmate and the two quieter ones. Besides, she was curious about the soup.

  “What, it’s really that easy?” the excited student asked interestedly, Ty clearly able to see the twinkle in her healer’s eyes now.

  “Yeah, just hand them your pin, sign some sheet thing promising to not take anything out, and they’ll let you go,” his friend said.

  “Any idea who they are?” asked Theo under his breath as they approached.

  “It looks like the twins,” she whispered back, noticing that Darius and Selene hadn’t even spoken to each other since they started walking over. “Seth and Pia?”

  At the mention of her name, Pia turned around just in time to catch Ty’s gaze. She smiled politely for a second, then let it drop almost immediately as she began walking away.

  “I’ll check it out then, it certainly sounds useful—oh!” At first confused about why the sister had started walking away, Cyril finally noticed their presence.

  Seth also turned around, following Cyril. “Ah, that’s my cue, then. Hello tactician, hello physician.” He smiled kindly at them both before giving Cyril one last look. “I’ll see you around,” he said with a wink before catching up with his sister.

  He left so swiftly that Ty could not even utter back a respectful “Hello, support” to Seth, watching him clumsily pursue his sister in the crowd.

  “Hey, you two,” grinned Cyril, gesturing to the seats around him and catching the attention of the two other students already at the table. “Come, sit, sit.”

  “Hello,” nodded Darius at the newcomers, looking up from his work and raising his pen as Ty sat beside Selene, and Theo sat across from her between Cyril and Darius.

  “Mm,” mumbled Selene, barely even looking at them for a second before returning to her fruit tart.

  “Fancy seeing you both here,” Cyril teased, picking at the plate of fish in front of him. “What happened to class, Theo?”

  Theo took a bowl of soup and left the bread and cheese on the platter in the middle. “Just finished the exam, Ty spectated.”

  It hadn’t occurred to Ty that not everyone knew about Theo getting sent to the infirmary. “He did well,” she tried to contribute to the conversation, realizing that her voice was too small to be heard over the bustling hall when no one responded. Pink with embarrassment, she took a piece of bread as the conversation continued without her.

  “Did it go well? I’ve got my last supplementary exam tomorrow.” The second part of Cyril’s sentence sounded like a lament as he stabbed at his dinner. “Also found out an hour ago that I’ve got to include some research portion to bring to my practical. Talk about a pain.”

  “Shouldn’t you be working on that instead of eating?” Theo put a spoonful of pasta in his mouth and chewed it with a perplexed look on his face.

  The healer sighed dramatically. “Yeah, I went to the library to figure out where to get the books, and it’s in some stupid study room. The librarians on the first floor that book rooms for you told me I couldn’t go because of some notice, but Seth just told me I can just talk to someone on the floor itself.”

  “I heard. You give your pin and sign something?”

  “Should be that easy, yeah. So how did your thing go?”

  Feeling a bit rude listening in on their conversation, Ty nibbled on her bread, turning her head to Selene, who looked happier now that Cyril wasn’t being loud.

  “Hi Selene,” she tried.

  “Hi.”

  She actually responded.

  “Thanks for getting me the card this morning.” Ty tried to hide her surprise. “It was early.”

  The botanist shook her head, a small smile on her face as she continued to eat her dessert. “I’m usually up early for morning blessing.”

  Now there was a term she hadn’t heard recently—Ancients and followers of the Circle of the Graces would wake up every morning right before sunrise to catch the Earth Mother’s ‘morning blessing.’ The advent of a new day, new beginnings. The circle of life continuing without fail, bestowing the world another day, another morning to be grateful for.

  After eating another bite of fruit, Selene nodded to Darius in front of her, who looked up. “Darius wakes me up when I forget sometimes.”

  Darius nodded, looking up from his writing. “Selene sleepy-head.”

  Selene’s smile grew wider. “Selene sleepy-head,” she agreed.

  Watching Selene turn back to her food, Ty finished her bun and now looked at the soup.

  Creamy, flowery shapes floated gently on top of the clear, brown broth. Every doughy flower had a small hole the size of a pinprick at its center, and some even looked like it had some pinkish tea leaves embedded into it. Vibrant, green vegetables floated among the blossoms, mimicking leaves.

  How am I supposed to eat something as pretty as this?

  “Is Ancient,” Darius spoke up, nodding to the soup.

  Ty took some time to process the words, and when they finally got through, she was taken aback. “Did you make it?”

  He smiled and nodded. “Is Ancient recipe. I like very much. My recipe make lots, so ask to give others.” Then he gestured to the soup bowl in front of him that she hadn’t noticed.

  “I’m glad I came to supper,” she breathed, mostly to herself, gazing down at the soup. “I’m glad there was some soup left.”

  Darius somehow caught her comment, though. “If Ty like, I make more. Try.”

  Hesitantly, she brought a spoonful of pasta and vegetables to her mouth. And another. And then one more, until she realized Darius was still waiting for her reaction, and here she was busy being pleasantly surprised not to feel awash with nausea.

  The soup was delicious. It was light and flavorful, a bit sweet, a bit salty, fragrant with the smell of a flower tea. The vegetables were not too over-cooked, giving the soup texture since the soft pasta practically melted in her mouth; at the bottom of the soup were more vegetables, and some smaller bits of pasta that would float if she nudged it. It was a very strange sensation. Delicious, but very different from anything she had ever eaten. She liked it.

  “It’s very good,” she finally said, trying her best not to chuckle at Darius’s expectant look. For someone who was so serious all the time, he seemed very much like a kid who had just prepared their first meal and was now waiting for their parents’ approval. “What’s in it?”

  As if he knew she’d say exactly that, Darius smiled and nodded. “I knew you like. I make blossom tea, then mix flour for pasta. I make base with tea, vegetables, and spices. No meat because Selene cannot eat, so bit different, but is still good for anima.”

  Ty ate another bite and nodded, enjoying it exactly as he had made it.

  “Theo like soup?” Darius asked, timidly tapping the physician on the shoulder.

  Theo momentarily stopped chatting with Cyril and turned to Darius before offering the Ancient a big smile. “Yes, it’s wonderful. Did you make it?”

  Beaming proudly, Darius chortled, “Yes, yes, I make. Very good. Happy.”

  As they ate and talked, Ty felt a sense of fatefulness. Not only for the people there, or what was discussed, but because she had given herself the chance to pursue something other than her duties. To chat, to enjoy the company of others, to pursue the normal life she had always wanted while fulfilling her purpose. Why did it take her so long to realize that the two weren’t mutually exclusive?

  “Oh hey, Ty, do you have that picture you showed me earlier?”

  “Picture?” interjected Theo, mouth full of pastry.

  Ty looked up at Cyril’s extended hand and took a moment to process his words before putting her coffee spoon in her mouth—she had finished her soup a while ago and was working on her second coffee while the rest had dessert—and pulling out the diagram from her notebook.

  The healer’s eyes widened, not even needing to examine it closely anymore. “You know what? I’m going to sound crazy, but I spent a good hour today on the fifth floor of the library, getting denied here and there, peeking into this one specific study room, trying to get in while some guy kept stopping me. And I swear it looked like this—the ladders, the shelves.”

  Ty paused for a few seconds, frozen with her mug half-way to her mouth. “Are you just saying that because you think it’ll make me help you with your assignment?”

  Her suspicion had absolutely no effect on him. “It’s from one of your exams, right? Maybe your prof’s just trying to tell you where to get the info without, like, writing up a whole thing. Like a treasure map!”

  She set her mug down. “That’s…plausible,” she replied slowly, thinking about it herself. The lines did look like shelves and a ladder. But with no other vertical lines to delineate the exact locations, it would have to take her a long time to flip through them all. “These would be very approximate positions. We don’t even know if it’s to scale, not to mention many bookshelves can look this way.”

  He, of course, was unaffected. “Can’t hurt to try, right? Shouldn’t take more than an hour or two if you know what you’re looking for.”

  “Okay.” She had a feeling there was more to it. “And?”

  Cyril leaned forward in his seat, big smile on his face. “And! I’ve also got to get my report done.”

  “And?” she repeated impatiently.

  Cyril turned to Theo beside him. “If someone helped me too…then maybe…”

  Theo chewed on a slice of candied peach, eyeing the healer briefly before locking eyes with Ty. “Yeah, I’ll help you,” he replied, starting straight at her.